There are numerous cutting tools available for cutting food items—including knives and “pizza cutter” style cutting tools. These are easy and convenient to use when a person wishes to cut food items in their own home, such as when sitting down to a meal in their own kitchen or dining room.
Likewise, when eating at a restaurant, knives are generally available for use, and even the side of a fork can be used to cut food into pieces. However, the “pizza cutter” style cutting tool is typically not available for customer use at restaurants. In addition, in many restaurants oriented toward young kids, it is common that only plastic utensils are available, which are not generally suitable for cutting food.
For certain types of food, such as for food that is being prepared for eating by a baby or toddler, use of a pizza cutter style cutting tool is advantageous because of the ability to quickly and efficiently slice food with one-handed use. Often the other hand of a parent is busy ensuring the safety of a baby or toddler or may be holding a number of other items such as a bottle or bib.
A knife generally requires two handed operation with the first hand holding the knife and the second hand holding the item being cut either directly or with another utensil, such as a fork. A fork is not always efficient, especially when a sharp cutting edge is required or when the item being cut has a relatively long dimension requiring cutting, such as a quesadilla, a pancake, a pizza, a sandwich or the like. For these situations, the one-handed operation of a pizza-cutter style cutting implement would be most useful.
In addition to the general lack of availability of pizza-cutter style implements for customer use at restaurants, the typical pizza-cutter style implement is not convenient for carrying around for use in a restaurant—such as carrying in a purse or a diaper bag, for instance. The typical pizza-cutter style implement is not designed in a compact form. Further, the typical pizza-cutter style implement is not conducive to being stored cleanly due to remnants from the food being cut remaining on the cutting wheel after use.
Numerous designs for pizza-cutter style and rotating cutting blade implements exist. These designs are exemplified by the following patents and applications:
U.S. Pat. No. 209,065, Chopping-Knife, issued to Millspaugh on Oct. 15, 1878.
U.S. Design Pat. No. Des. 355,815, Pizza Cutter, issued to La Gro on Feb. 28, 1995.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,428,898, Pizza Cutter, issued to Hawkins on Jul. 4, 1995.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,504,998, Manual Cutting Wheel, issued to Nguyen on Apr. 9,1996;
U.S. Design Pat. No. Des. 375,662, Pizza Cutter, issued to Noga on Nov. 19, 1996.
U.S. Design Pat. No. Des. 397,001, Pizza Cutter, issued to Antista et. al., on Aug. 18, 1998.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/443,615, Rotary-Type Cutting Implement, inventor Cornfield et. al., application date May 23, 2003.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/635,457, Pizza Cutter, inventor Lin, application date Aug. 7, 2003.
U.S. Design Pat. No. Des. 494,823, Cutting Wheel, issued to Overthun et. al., on Aug. 24, 2004.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,134,209, Disc Cutter, issued to Molenaar on Nov. 14, 2006.
U.S. Pat. No. 209,065 discloses a basic pizza-cutter style implement having a handle and a cutting blade, but does not include a center mounting section as disclosed by the present invention nor the conformal blade cover. Similar drawbacks are likewise inherent in design patent D355,815, U.S. Pat. No. 5,428,898, U.S. Pat. No. 5,504,998, design patent D375,662, design patent D397,001, patent application Ser. No. 10/443,615, design patent D494,823, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,134,209.
While patent application Ser. No. 10/635,457 discloses a means of covering the rotating cutting blade, the means of covering the blade is simply a safety feature serving the combined purpose of grasping handle and blade cover, but does not provide the same utility as the present invention where the blade cover fully encloses the cutting blade and is otherwise removable. The full enclosure of the cutting blade is a key improvement over the prior art by providing the ability to cleanly store the device without the worry of having food remnants fall loose from the device, such as to soil other items in a purse or diaper bag for instance.
As such, it may be appreciated that there is a continuing need for a new and improved cutting wheel assembly. In these respects, the present invention provides a method that substantially fulfills this need. Additionally, the prior patents and commercial techniques do not suggest the present inventive combination of component elements arranged and configured as disclosed herein.
The present invention achieves its intended purposes, objects, and advantages through a new, useful and unobvious combination of method steps and component elements, with the use of a minimum number of functioning parts, at a reasonable cost to manufacture, and by employing only readily available materials.
The present invention is a pocket-sized cutting wheel. It is designed to be an easy cutting tool for parents to use in eating establishments to cut their children's food. The present invention includes a low profile integrated handle and conformal blade cover that fits over the rotatable cutting blade and secures to the handle for clean storage.
Briefly, the present invention is directed to a pocket-size cutting wheel having an integral handle constructed optionally of magnetic material. The wheel can slide into a corresponding U-shaped cover. The cover may include a magnetized ridge that functions as a retention means and as a stop means for precluding the further advancement of the circular blade into the cover.